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Another defender close to signing for Arsenal – Is this the end for Mustafi?

Arsenal have been very closely linked to the Turkey international Calgar Soyunco since the transfer window opened, as the Gunners look set to completely overhaul their ageing and error-ridden defence, and now his agent Mustafa Dogru has confirmed that we are extremely close to finalising a deal.

“Sven Mislintat has been keen on Caglar since he was at Borussia Dortmund,” Dogru told Turkish Football. “He first scouted him back in Germany. Sven is interested in Caglar, there are concrete talks, all that remains is for a fee to be agreed. We will see what happens next.

“What I will say regarding the Liverpool link is that there were four to five Premier League clubs scouting him over the international break.

“There are four Premier League sides who’ve made a move for Soyuncu, that we are in talks with.

“There is also interest from Atletico Madrid in Spain and a few clubs in France, Italy and Germany.

“I’m not surprised by the interest, Caglar is a modern defender, he’s mobile, fast, dual-footed, has an excellent passing range. He’s tough and very physical, I think the Premier League is ideal for a defender with his attributes.

“I think he is ready now for a new challenge but we will see what happens.”

Things are certainly looking up in defence for Arsenal fans, as we have already confirmed Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sokratis is supposedly all wrapped up as well. I don’t think it’s such good news for Calum Chambers and Rob Holding though! Or maybe Mustafi would be the first out the door?

69 thoughts on “Another defender close to signing for Arsenal – Is this the end for Mustafi?”

I strongly feel Mustafi and Koscielny would be sold after Arsenal get Sokratis and Soyuncu, whereas Chambers and Holding might be kept as squad rotation players. Chambers would not be too affected, because he is versatile enough to play as DM or RB

Let’s see whether the similar defense problem Wenger faced for over a decade would infect the current team’s defense or not, after we get rid of the current first team CBs

Yes, like Cazorla i think Koscielny is almost done with Arsenal.
He didnt have a good season may be due to the niggling injuries buy if all these rumours eventually materialize, we would then have;

Mustafi
Holding
Mavropanos
Sokratis
Chambers
Soyuncu

Thats 6 CBs without counting Koscielny, i think Holding should go out on loan
I dont think it is safe for us to pair two new defenders thats why i would wanna keep Mustafi who at least have EPL experience

And as a backup CB, there are literally dozens of better options out there, otherwise clubs would already send offers for Chambers. He’s also behind Mavro now, so he better find a more suitable club – in championship or bottom table Prem teams.
Anyway, good luck to him.
But yeah, Mustafi should go first because we can actually get some 20 mill. for him whereas I;m not sure anyone would offer more than 7 – 10 for Chambers…

What will bring in more money, the sale of Mustafi or the saleS of Holding and Chambers?
I prefer Chambers to Mustafi and I think Holding is a fine prospect… but what I want and what AFC do tend to be totally different things… I wanted us to go for Koulibaly and/or Manolas XD

To piggyback off this post a little if Ramsey, Welbeck, Ospina and Perez (athough I do rate
the Spaniard) were sold in this window Arsenal could bring in close to £60M( if there transfer evaluations were met). Emery and co. could turn
there attention toward acquiring a top tier winger
such as Bailey, Draxler, Martins, Martial, Forsberg

I would also sell Bellerin yesterday and bring in
Klosterman from Leipzig. The German is already
a more accomplished RB and has he added
versatility to slot in anywhere on the back line.
The net gain on that transfer could be applied
toward the before mentioned wing player
addition.

I would be over the moon if Arsenal trotted out
this first 11 come August

Tuned in for Rosicky’s game, but it’s been delayed⛈
Mustafi baffles me… has a great game against Chelsea away… spuds at home… then has some real shockers!! He has got it in him, but I’m not sure if he’s in Emery’s plans. If we were to sell him, I don’t think we’ll get what we paid for him

We are all guilty of criticizing our defenders, especially or CBs, and not our defensive play. No defenders, elite or world class will play in that system and will not fail. We basically defended with 2 players and no cover DM .Kos is aging and becoming injury prone and Per is gone, the reason i will take another younger CB.

Yes, Mustafi will be sold and either one of Kosc or Chambers. A bit off-topic here but I suspect the strategy for this window is agree the cheaper deals first so clubs don’t overcharge us and then we probably go for the expensive signings last. I’m not sure why but I feel there is a surprise in the mix for us but we’ll wait and see. For some reason I feel like we gonna sign Danilo Pereira from Porto and rehabilitate him and Lucas Torreira will be competition for him. We will ease in Danilo since he has been out so long on injury

How do we know that AFC will not look to sell off say…. Holding and Chambers instead?

This isn’t my desire, it is just an option which I haven’t seen ruled out and as such something I think is worth considering.

Think about the def if we get Sok and Sou while selling the 2 I said.

Bellerin(Licht)/Mustafi(Sou)/Sokratis(Mavrop)/Monreal(Kola)

It has cover for rotation/competition.
It has a mix of youth and experience.
We lose 2 HG players but this could fetch more in return than a Mustafi after the season we just had.

Please do not bash me with the accusation that I am advocating this. This is something I wouldn’t put past Arsenal now that Wenger has left and his loyalty doesn’t shield players. We do have some youngsters who could in theory replace them for HG quota as it is made up from the whole team (the HG quota).

As an example, Julio Pleguezuelo is out on loan and been with us since 16 and now , he would fill a HG spot. I believe the same situation for Bielik. Two HG players to replace Chambers and Holding…

I agree-While I accept that we need to improve the defence as an absolute priority I just cannot accept that abandoning Chambers and Holding will be in the best interest of the Club and the players.
By signing a CDM (Torreira) the defence will immediately have protection.This SHOULD improve us defensively and get better and more consistent performances out of the likes of Mustafi and Kos(when fit).But at the same time experienced CB’s like Sokratis will improve us quality wise and so would Sonycu if he is rated that highly.So with Mavraponas also rated and Bielick hopefully fit and breaking through we will simply have TOO MANY centre half’s.We can only play Two (in a four) or Three (in a three/five) so why so many?Emery MUST get the CDM.The only person in the World who even now believes we do not need one is Wenger.Emery is a COACH. We HAVE good players.COACH the players we have and with the addition of Sokratis we SHOULD immediately improve.IF we do buy Sonychu then we might just as well sell (or loan out) Chambers and Holding as they will never get a game.
I’m all for buying quality but not for spending money just for the sake of spending.

1.mustafi out
2.soyunco in
3.looks 50/70 million is really our budget sad true.
4.Liverpool is keeping up with the manchester teams 😔
5.i knows it’s still early we have 2 months left in the window! I’m gna sit back and enjoy what afc has install for us!
Coyg

This Torreira Lucas looks like a gem 💎 so comfortable on the ball and high interception rates….. As for Danilo he’s not very good on the ball in my view I would try Kondogbia was a marvel to watch with Valencia last season.. CB if we finalize the deal for the Dortmund guy and this Turkish chap I wouldn’t mind selling Mustafi seeing that the young Greek CB looks so promising…..

Only at Arsenal it seems where
underperforming, injury riddles players are
given lucrative contract extensions as opposed to being shown the door.

Of the three players mentioned only Ramsey
was decent this year when he happenend to be fit. Hector and Xhaka have both been terribly underwelhming the past 2 seasons and all
three of there positions should be under
serious scrutiny by Emery and Sven. There
are better players available that woukd
immediately improve the athleticism and
balance of the squad.

All three players will have interested suitors this
summer, if the price is right sell em all

Someone the other day mentioned Ramsey and how the goals and assists don’t really do it for him. He said he’s a good player alright but I’d prefer if he concentrated mainly on CM role by using his stamina and pace to harass and hurry opponents and being a link player instead. Not sure of exact words but basically a scrapper and moving ball quickly along. I thought it was a very fair comment, because Ramsey could do that if he was instructed. I think most people can see Ramsey is talented, he’s a fine player, but unfortunately he played in a side that had way too much freedom and no midfield runners other than himself and Walcott.

Adam , BASED PURELY ON LACK OF ABILITY i WOULD WISH TO SEE MOST OF THE SQUAD. ABOUT ALL BUT 8 ACTUALLY. But it cannot ALL be done at once. However, I would sell Bellerin and Mustafi ASAP, AS NEITHER ARE ANY USE AT ALL IMO. Xhaka too but only once he is replaced.

I agree Adam. If you compare Mkhitaryan to Ramsey everybody can see that Mkhi is leagues ahead of Ramsey. Mkhi’s passing and vision is Ozil levels, Mkhi can keep possession of the ball better than Ramsey, Mkhi is a WAY better dribbler than Ramsey, Mkhi actually tracks back and often outdoes most of the defenders in terms of defensive stats(tackling, ball recovery, interceptions) and while Mkhi isn’t quite as good a finisher as Ramsey he completely outdoes Ramsey in every other department and Mkhi is on 200k a week. We need to stop settling for mediocre midfielders and start looking for ones who actually know how to carry out their duties.

The obvious and best incoming fee value to sell our defenders is to sell BELLERIN AND MUSTAFI ASAP. There is, ludicrously, a widely expected value for HB of 35 mill or more. I would not pay fourpence personally. Mustafi might fetch 20-25 million. It really is crazy what people will pay for rubbish in todays market. But we must get them both out while they are still considered worth these ridiculous fees. Thes are plenty of suckers out there .

I also support d above opinion for arsenal FC transfers so that we can be a solid Nd tough team to defeat for d forthcoming season bcos I believe those are players we need right now Nd the to be sold also

It’s going to be interesting. Personally, I can see the CBs being completely changed (We only conceded 5 fewer goals than the teams relegated last seaon) and a new goal keeper must be on the cards. Mustafi and Kosc to go. Soyuncu, Soktatis and Licht coming in. The latter two, will bring experience and leadership. Loan holding out for confidence and keep Chambers. Also, there is Mavropanos coming along nicely.
Jack and Ozil to go. Torreira in, also we have Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bielik for holding midfield too.
We are also looking for a bargain winger.
If they juggle the transfers well, we could see a good squad coming together with youth and experience.

Kev-There are very very few World Class players in the English Premier League.There are a lot of very very good players and even more very good players.But when it comes to World Class players I would suggest there are no more than FIVE or SIX. I can tell you now that MESUT OZIL is in that small group of World Class players.I accept his performances divide opinion and his work rate is often criticised (Lets remember we bought Ozil as a Thoroughbred and NOT a Pit Pony) But Do you seriously believe Emery is not licking his lips in anticipation of working with the player?He had genuine World Class at PSG in Neymar Cavani Verratti And we have only Ozil.Emery even now will have thoughts only of HOW DO I GET THE BEST FROM MESUT OZIL.
Unfortunately the Manager MUST concentrate on the obvious total mess of our defensive unit before addressing other areas but selling Mesut Ozil has not once entered his head

How come it’s only his agent we hear, as well as former club who get a slice. Arsenal are notorious for asking things to be kept quite. I’m not saying this is one of those times, but how many times have we heard agents using Arsenal to try and get interest in a player. He told of numerous teams here, why would he name check everyone like that when clubs hate this kind of thing. He might be just a guy who does his business this way, but I find it very curious that he’s doing it so openly when teams already know of other teams interest without having to go through the media.

wack rumour. once an agent talks about Arsenal its a clue that its all made up to drive interest and we may have scouted him but have now moved on.
Move on fellas, nothing to see here Soyoncu is not, I repeat; IS NOT coming to Arsenal!!

The most information that football fans have received in a long time was in Gazidis’ press conference.

He mentioned that they interviewed 8 candidates from the start, and that no one was added at any point, and no one dropped out at any point, and that they decided unanimously on Emery on the Friday that was about 5 days before the announcement.

This confirms that EVERY WORD ABOUT TRANSFERS BY THE NEWS MEDIA IS FICTION – “FAKE NEWS”.

When the News Media said “Arteta is negotiating about transfers today”, Emery had been selected several days before.

Some web sites still call Emery an “11th hour signing” despite Gazidis saying that no candidate was not there at the start.

It’s true that the manager selection process was more secret, because no Agents or Fathers were involved. 🙂

But I hate those articles that say “Arsenal interested in player Blah” and then a week later “Liverpool sign Arsenal target Blah” when THERE WAS NEVER ANY INTEREST BY ARSENAL. And then the fans get mad about something that never happened.

I do not know, but for some reason the Soyuncu situation just does not add up, to me it seems as if he is using arsenal as a PR stunt similar to Icardi from inter a year ago, trying to drum up interest as much as possible. I personally think our defenders are fairly good, but need proper organisation this can only come from proper drilling and match experience.

Emery will bring a better defensive organisation to Arsenal and this will encourage confidence in our players, Chambers, Beilik, Holding and Mav, must be given the opportunity to play and improve. Mustafi and Kos also have more experience, but still was responsible for many mistakes at the back and i would not describe them has ridiculous defenders.

So let us wait and see who the managing committee brings in and who they let go.

And while Wenger closely followed the 17 year old players to find future talent, Emery is even more interested in actually playing them.

So, while I think it is likely that Per and Kos will be replaced soon, there could be less incoming than one might think. Note that fans now want to replace the same players they were happy to see being signed (Xhaka, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Lacazette). As John mentions, there might be more improvement from playing differently than from getting different players.

Sell this player……buy this player………modern football is about the eleven goys and the system or tactics being used……..talent is great……..but what I see now is that……the better and smaller teams………..use their players strategically……..and tactically………and physically fit…….that’s why it is not easy to win games in the EPL……….give the coach the chance and patience………to build his team…………based on his system…………